Talking turkey with Foods of All Nations’ Bill Yenovkian

Bill Yenovkian laughs as he attempts to describe the perfect Thanksgiving turkey “without sounding pornographic.” You want a “full, nice-shaped bird,” the longtime Foods of All Nations butcher begins. And then he stops, embarrassed, and tries again: “You want a rounded, plump breast…”

Why don’t we start with the number of people you’re serving and how big a bird you should buy, Yenovkian suggests. Ask yourself a few questions: How many adults will be at your table? How many children? What’s the makeup of men, women and college-aged boys? Are any of your guests vegetarians? Do you want leftovers? Are you big eaters? “It’s not as simple as buying a boneless piece of meat and guessing between six and eight ounces per person,” he says.

“One and a half to two pounds per person is a good rule of thumb,” Yenovkian says. “If you’re serving five people, you’ll want a 10- to 12-pound turkey—a 12-pound turkey is not a very big bird when you look at it. And you should err on the larger side because nobody wants to run short. It’s not that expensive to buy a couple extra pounds.”

The next step is choosing between fresh and frozen. A turkey is labeled fresh if it hasn’t been cooled below 26 degrees Fahrenheit, while a frozen bird has been chilled below zero degrees Fahrenheit (and needs plenty of time to defrost). There are also hard-chilled turkeys, which have been cooled below 26 degrees, but not below zero.

But fresh and frozen aren’t the only turkey differentiators you’ll encounter. You’ll also need to decide if you want your bird to be organic (raised on 100 percent organic feed, given access to the outdoors and no antibiotics); kosher (a grain-fed, antibiotic-free turkey that’s been processed under rabbinical supervision and soaked in a salt brine); free-range (a turkey that has access to the outdoors); or natural (a bird that’s been minimally processed and has no added artificial ingredients or colors). Then there are heritage breeds: Most store-bought turkeys are Broad Breasted Whites, but farmers such as Judd and Cari Culver raise historic breeds like the KellyBronze that can be found running wild at Heritage Glen, the couple’s Crozet farm. The pair’s slow-growing birds sell for more than $12 a pound and receive no antibiotics, feed additives or growth hormones, and they are hand-plucked, dry-hung and aged before being sold.

Among the three different birds Foods of All Nations carries are Polyface Farm turkeys, which are GMO-free and live in a paddock that is moved every other day to a new pasture that’s been “mowed” by cows, so the grass is shorter and the birds eat tender, fresh sprouts. And over on Garth Road at Timbercreek Farm, the birds are given GMO-free feed to supplement what they consume while grazing and foraging in mobile houses that are also rotated frequently.

Turkey, however, isn’t the only game in town. Yenovkian gets requests for goose, duck and the occasional turducken, a combination of turkey, duck and chicken. (“We have a hard time sourcing them,” he says. “And honestly, they’re a ridiculous amount of work.”) Some people do a Thanksgiving beef roast, a standing rib roast or a tied tenderloin, he says, but the vast majority of his customers go with turkey: Yenovkian estimates he sells about 400 birds, “which is a lot for a small store; it’s a week of chaos, but we try to keep it as organized and running as smoothly as we can.”

When asked about the centerpiece of his own Thanksgiving meal, Yenovkian says, “I like turkey. There’s a big difference between moving hundreds of pounds of turkey and sitting down and enjoying one with friends and family.”

The day after

Thanksgiving was fun, but the party’s over. Now what about all those leftovers? We turned to Mike Perry, the chef de cuisine at Harvest Moon Catering, for advice. He suggested these simple-to-make, all-inclusive turkey sliders. “They can be a bit messy,” he says. “But they’re worth it!”

8 soft rolls, cut in half and buttered

1 pound sliced or pulled, roasted turkey

1 cup turkey gravy

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 cup stuffing

½ cup cranberry sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Arrange the bottoms of the rolls in a buttered casserole dish. Equally divide and spoon the mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy onto the bottom half of the rolls. Layer the turkey on top of the gravy and spoon the cranberry sauce (if using) over the turkey. Put the tops of the rolls in place and cover the assembled sliders with foil. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove the foil cover and let the sliders rest for a few minutes. Dig in!

Our comments system is designed to foster a lively debate of ideas, offer a forum for the exchange of ad hoc information, and solicit honest, respectful feedback about the work we do. We’re glad you’re participating. Here are a few simple rules to follow, which should be relatively straightforward.

1) Don’t call people names or accuse them of things you cannot support.
2) Don’t direct foul language, racial slurs, or offensive terms at other commenters or our staff.
3) Don’t use the discussion on our site for commercial (or shameless personal) promotion.

We reserve the right to remove posts and ban commenters who violate any of the rules listed above, or the spirit of the discussion. We’re trying to create a safe space for a wide range of people to express themselves, and we believe that goal can only be achieved through thoughtful, sensitive editorial control.

If you have questions or comments about our policies or about a specific post, please send an e-mail to editor@c-ville.com.

Leave a Reply

Connect with

Account Creation

When you login the first time using our Facebook button, we collect your public profile information shared by Facebook, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.

DisagreeAgree

This comment form is under antispam protection

This comment form is under antispam protection

Subscribe

Notify of

Our comments system is designed to foster a lively debate of ideas, offer a forum for the exchange of ad hoc information, and solicit honest, respectful feedback about the work we do. We’re glad you’re participating. Here are a few simple rules to follow, which should be relatively straightforward.
1) Don’t call people names or accuse them of things you cannot support.
2) Don’t direct foul language, racial slurs, or offensive terms at other commenters or our staff.
3) Don’t use the discussion on our site for commercial (or shameless personal) promotion.
We reserve the right to remove posts and ban commenters who violate any of the rules listed above, or the spirit of the discussion. We’re trying to create a safe space for a wide range of people to express themselves, and we believe that goal can only be achieved through thoughtful, sensitive editorial control.
If you have questions or comments about our policies or about a specific post, please send an e-mail to editor@c-ville.com.

Some of us, when we were younger, marveled at Baskin-Robbins’ “original 31 flavors.” It seemed impossible (31 flavors!) but also confirmed that summer—ice-cream season—was the best season of all. In Charlottesville, that reassurance comes from the popsicles at La Flor Michoacana. Like

Summer is the time to eat your colors. Yellow corn is at its sweetest, red tomatoes their juiciest, and the greens are just as green as could be. We’ve rounded up salad recipes from five local chefs that showcase the season’s leading stars along with some unexpected guest appearances: a piquant

Whether you’re kicking back with a cocktail or tucking into a hearty meal, a great view always enhances the moment. You may be on a patio in the country, gazing at a distant mountain ridge, or on a cozy porch in the city, surrounded by strings of sparkling party lights. Whatever your vantage

On a rainy night in early April, I joined a handful of other food-and-drink journalists in the glass-walled pavilion at Afton Mountain Vineyards to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tony and Elizabeth Smith’s ownership of the winery. About a minute into my conversation with Elizabeth during

Being a great bartender is the sort of thing your parents can lose track of. They know you work in a nice restaurant—one like Tavola, for instance. They glean from your calls home that the hours are long and the work is hard. But greatness? At making a gin and tonic? That’s tough for Mom […]

One name has long been absent from discussions of Charlottesville’s great restaurants: The Old Mill Room at the Boar’s Head Resort. Once a local standard bearer for high-end cuisine, the hotel dining room was overtaken during the past decade by a growing collection of top-tier local eateries

One morning last April, Afton Mountain Vineyards winemaker Damien Blanchon stood under a canopy in the rain, his yellow rain slicker a bright spot on the gray day. Smoke streamed out from the firepit he tended. The night’s meal, a freshly butchered pig, dripped fat onto the coals. Blanchon’s on

When Sweethaus abruptly closed last December, the year ended on a sour note for fans of the bakery’s cheerful confections. But the new year turned out sweetly for Charlottesville, as former manager Billy Koenig and his team opened Vivi’s Cakes and Candy in the former Sweethaus space on Ivy

“It will be two years in July since I had this meal, and it was great not only because of what I ate, but also because of the beautiful setting. I was traveling with seven friends, two from Palermo, Italy, and the rest from the Charlottesville area. I remember it was very hot, about two […]

Making charcuterie is an art, and the best meat artists in town can be found at J.M. Stock Provisions. “You have to receive the animal, break it down, use just the right balance of fat and lean, get the perfect matrix of textures, and chop, grind, and cook for hours,” says Alex Import, general

I first encountered an ovoid concrete fermentation vessel at Austria’s innovative biodynamic winery Meinklang in 2004. Actually, there were a few of them, all lined up and looking like 1950s science-fiction rocket ships, held upright by fin-shaped buttresses. A startling departure from the oak

About 10 years ago, concurrent with the onset of the artisanal cocktail movement, small-batch European vermouths began showing up in the U.S. market. Winemakers took notice, and some started experimenting with producing their own. Today, vermouth is enjoying a moment, with some of the very best

After retiring from the construction business, Clay Greneveld couldn’t sit still, so he launched a second career as a custom craftsman. For a short while he made pen sets, using acrylic and wood, but he found the work too fussy and the profits marginal. Now, three years into his new venture,

After years of struggling with disordered eating and food sensitivities, Renee Byrd rediscovered her love of food and cooking. Now she shares recipes—and a bit of life-changing magic—on Will Frolic for Food, the blog she started in 2013. In a way, Byrd, 29, is the Marie Kondo of food. While she

As they peruse a restaurant wine list or browse the shelves of the local wine shop, do most imbibers know how all of those foreign bottles made their way here? From finding a promising producer in the European countryside, to navigating a logistic and regulatory thicket to usher the product

Restoration has always been important to the Ramsey family: There’s Luke, whose company Ramsey Restoration focuses on the construction and preservation of historical property, and who learned how to build log cabins from his father. And there’s Adrienne, who formerly served as a spokesperson

New Year’s is more of a drinking-and-kissing holiday than one meant for feasting. But don’t let a good start-of-the-year meal go overlooked, especially if you might leave some luck on the table. We asked some local food folks to cook us up New Year’s Day nosh that was traditional (to capitalize

Chef Mark Gresge missed making soup. From 1992 to 2014, Gresge ran the beloved local French restaurant L’étoile. “To me,” Gresge says, “French country cooking was the perfect cuisine. Depth of flavor, locally sourced product, a true sense of region in the cooking.” L’étoile had always run

There are a lot of people around here who are passionate about meat, from Reid’s longtime butcher to a club that opens your mind (and stomach) to new cuts. This issue, we’re introducing you to the right people, places and dishes to satisfy any craving. Let’s meat! By Nathan Alderman, Joanna